Bennet P. Lientz

Characteristics of application software maintenance

Maintenance and enhancement of application software consume a major portion of the total life cycle cost of a system. Rough estimates of the total systems and programming resources consumed range as high as 75-80 percent in each category. However, the area has been given little attention in the literature. To analyze the problems in this area a questionnaire was developed and pretested. It was then submitted to 120 organizations. Respondents totaled 69. Responses were analyzed with the SPSS statistical package. The results of the analysis indicate that: (1) maintenance and enhancement do consume much of the total resources of systems and programming groups; (2) maintenance and enhancement tend to be viewed by management as at least somewhat more important than new application software development; (3) in maintenance and enhancement, problems of a management orientation tend to be more significant than those of a technical orientation; and (4) user demands for enhancements and extension constitute the most important management problem area.

Problems in application software maintenance

The problems of application software maintenance in 487 data processing organizations were surveyed. Factor analysis resulted in the identification of six problem factors: user knowledge, programmer effectiveness, product quality, programmer time availability, machine requirements, and system reliability. User knowledge accounted for about 60 percent of the common problem variance, providing new evidence of the importance of the user relationship for system success or failure. Problems of programmer effectiveness and product quality were greater for older and larger systems and where more effort was spent in corrective maintenance. Larger scale data processing environments were significantly associated with greater problems or programmer effectiveness, but with no other problem factor. Product quality was seen as a lesser problem when certain productivity techniques were used in development.

Issues in Software Maintenance

Abstract : Up to a few years ago the area of software maintenance was largely ignored. Interest has increased in the last few years due to several factors. First, the increased volume of enhancement and maintenance with more systems from that of ten years ago has restricted resources available for new development. Second, there has been a growing awareness that tools and aids which assist development of information systems may have little effect on operational systems. Third, the management of information systems has come under increasing scrutiny. In this report we highlight some of the major issues that surfaced during several extensive operational software studies. These sources have pointed to significant questions that must be addressed concerning the roles of the users in operations and maintenance, the management of maintenance, and the types of tools and techniques that are needed in maintenance. (Author)

A Stochastic Method of Allocation of Components to Maximize Reliability

The purpose of this paper is to present a method of implicit enumeration that can be used in reliability problems to maximize system reliability subject to cost constraints. The method is based on a stochastic approach in which probability distributions are attached to families of allocations. Probability distributions permit the experienced scheduler to apply his experience as well as factors which are not taken directly into account by the mathematical form of the problem. This feature together with getting near-optimal solutions are its principal features. When compared to other methods, speed is gained because the cost projection part of the method deals with functions of random variables rather than methods such as linear programming. The method is presented for systems in which all components are in series.

Chapter 13 – IT Strategic Planning

Determine purpose and outcomes of the planning process Establish who the stakeholders are or who else needs to be involved in some other capacity Prepare draft agendas for potential workshop sessions, including the selection or design of practical activities Communicate with the prospective stakeholders regarding the purpose and process Brief all participants and staff on their respective roles and their responsibility in achieving the expected results of the process Support effective process in group discussion Ensure various perspectives are heard and respected Open up honest and direct conversation of difficult issues while ensuring respectful communication Alert leaders to any issues that may require personal or individual follow-up

A comparative evaluation of versions of BASIC

From its inception, The BASIC language has grown in terms of its usage, scope of usage, and its features. This article compares ten of the current versions of BASIC with each other, with two earlier versions, and with the proposed standard for minimal BASIC. The comparison is arranged by the features of the versions and by computational comparison of computation and times and processing costs.

Trade-offs of secure processing in centralized versus distributed networks☆

Abstract Simulation was performed for specific network configurations to assess the effect of imposing security measures on a portion of the workload. The results provide a methodology for performing trade off analysis. The trade-offs are presented in terms of the measures of response time, workload, and cost. Network types included distributed, semicentralized, and centralized configurations. The analysis was conducted using a simulation model which is briefly summarized. The results of the simulation for the cases considered indicate that economies of scale shift from centralized to semicentralized configurations for a fixed I/O bound workload. This occurs when throughput degrades, due to the imposition of security measures, approximately 15% (10%) when 10% (20%) of the workload requires secure processing. Degradation is also examined when certain centers process only secure workload versus distributing both secure and non-secure jobs across the network.

Chapter 3 – Politics and the Resistance to Change

Politics can be defined as the science centering on guiding and influencing policies and the conduct of work. Politics can play such a leading role in change management that it and resistance to change warrant a chapter of their own prior to starting to plan for change. After all, it is useful to know what you could potentially be in for before you start walking down the road to change. Politics and self-interest often dictate how people feel about change to their work or the work that they control. Resistance is the active or passive opposition to change and the management of change. As you will see resistance can take many forms. Individuals and groups can also express or feel degrees of opposition. You must keep in mind that resistance is dynamic and changes depending on the specific situation. Why do people resist change?

Chapter 7 – Define Your New Business Processes and Quick Wins

You have the starting point defined—the current processes. You also have where you eventually want to go—the long-term processes. Now you must define a path for moving fiom one to the other. In developing the future transactions, you will be drawing on ideas of the employees, your industry data, and experience from using various sofnvare packages. In the end, you can change a process for the future and not the long-term by doing some combination of the following:

Develop a Process Plan

There are business plans, department or division plans, and information technology (IT) plans? These all address organizational concerns and needs. None of these specifically deals with where the money is either won or 1ost. Afier all, the success or failure of an organization is determined by its business processes. That is why it is interesting that so little attention has been devoted to this area—developing the process plan.